FUEL CELL TO POWER TEST HOUSE
An energy technology called a fuel cell will for the first time supply all the power to a suburban home, a brick ranch-style house in Latham, New York that engineers planned to disconnect from the local utility June 17. Fuel cells are on the verge of breakthrough as an economical alternative to traditional energy sources. Officials at the US Energy Department, which is helping to pay for the Latham test, have high hopes that within a few years thousands of homes will be drawing electric power from fuel cells, cutting pollution and fuel consumption. The fuel-cell device at the Latham house looks more like a home central air-conditioning unit than the small chemical plant it really is. An idea that has been around for more than 100 years, fuel cells convert liquid fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction instead of combustion. Confidence about mass producing the latest designs at reasonable costs is growing as researchers make progress tinkering with the fuel cell's membranes. Scientists are now using Gore-Tex, the fabric used in foul-weather gear, to make the ultra-thin membranes crucial to the basic chemical reaction - combining oxygen and hydrogen to make water and electricity. Plug Power, the company running the Latham test, predicts it can market residential fuel cells by 2000 at $3,000 to $5,00O each. - The New York Times, 17 Jun 98, p A27, by Matthew L. Wald.

GOVERNMENTS BUYING LAND TO CURB SPRAWL
Despite her tax-cutting record, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman is proposing to raise the state's gasoline tax to preserve half of its two million acres of undeveloped land over the next 10 years. Whitman's proposal to curb suburban sprawl would raise New Jersey's gas tax from 14.5 to 21.5 cents a gallon. Of the 7-cent increase, 5 cents would finance improvements to roadways and mass transit projects, and 2 cents, or $90 million, would preserve open space. Georgia, Connecticut, and Minnesota already have new spending plans to buy farmland and preserve open space. These anti-sprawl measures address the mounting concern of suburban and rural residents about the impact of development on already congested roadways and overcrowded schools. The National Home Builders Association says consumer demand for larger homes on larger lots is pushing home building to outlying suburbs. Besides buying undeveloped land, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, and a few other states are managing growth by using incentives to direct development to areas with existing roads and water and sewer lines. At the local and county level, more than 100 governments across the US have sought voter approval in the last two years for tax increases or bond referendums to curb suburban sprawl by buying undeveloped land. Just last month, voters in Monroe County, Pennsylvania approved a $25 million bond referendum to buy undeveloped land over the next ten years. Austin, Texas voters agreed to increase water rates to raise $65 million to protect 15,000 acres outside the city. But recognizing the limits of government expenditures for land conservation, Portland, Oregon's aggressive growth management relies on regional zoning powers to restrict development. - The New York Times, 9 June 98, p A1, by Jennifer Preston.

ENERGY-CONSCIOUS RETAIL LIGHTING
Even popular-priced retailers can have good results and long-term benefits from an energy-conscious approach to lighting. So says a team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center that has evaluated a 25,000-square-foot Linens 'n' Things warehouse-style retail store in Patchogue, New York. The Linens 'n' Things lighting design provides good visibility and color rendering of products using energy efficient technologies for general illumination, wall washing, and accent lighting. Many warehouse- style stores use ceiling-mounted fluorescent striplights, recessed lensed luminaires, or HID downlights that produce uniform lighting on merchandise below. Wall displays receive no special emphasis. Here, the designers deployed warm-color metal-halide lamps for general lighting. On wall units they used track lighting with long twin-tube compact fluorescent lamps to provide high vertical illuminances. This brightness attracts the eye, allows the customer to evaluate color and textures and, on the perimeter walls, makes the store look more spacious. Halogen infrared spotlights draw attention to special focal points in the store. The store's connected lighting power density is 2.4 watts per square foot, significantly under what the client considered standard US practice. The Lighting Research Center designs and evaluates lighting through a program called Demonstration and Evaluation of Lighting Technologies and Applications, or DELTA. The program evaluates retrofit or new construction lighting for energy use, cost, human response, how well the technologies work, and how easy they are to maintain. [For more information on the Lighting Resource Center and DELTA, visit <http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/> or email Judith Block, blockj@rpi.edu.] - Interiors, Jun 98, p 14 of the Lighting Focus supplement, by Judith Block.

CASE STUDIES OF RECYCLED-CONTENT MATERIALS
The Buy Recycled Business Alliance, a partnership of the National Recycling Coalition, has documented 19 buildings and interiors that use recycled-content materials. Its report presents a one-page summary of each with multiple photographs and concise text that give the building's recycled-content construction materials, its size and location, and its architect or contractor. Companion technical documentation offers information on identifying, selecting, and obtaining each project's recycled-content materials. Among the projects is a McDonald's in Kent, Washington that uses recycled steel, aluminum, and plastics for the restaurant's door, countertops, and trash cans. And Duracell's new 308,000-square-foot headquarters in Bethel, Connecticut that has more than 40 environmentally sustainable products in place. [For a free copy of Case Studies on Building and Office Renovations Using Recycled-Content Materials, email BRBA coordinator Bonnie Fedchock, BonnieF@nrc-recycle.org.] - Interiors & Sources, May 98, p 26.

GUILFORD REDESIGNS FABRIC... AND MORE
Guilford of Maine now makes its polyester fabric FR-701, a popular office panel covering, from 100 percent recycled thread. Since polyester recycled from soda containers doesn't absorb dye in the same way as virgin polyester, Interface's fabric-making subsidiary recalibrated its entire dying operation. Guilford also modified the wood-burning boilers that heat its four New England factories, says Paul Paydos of Interface's fabrics division, making them 23 percent more efficient. In 1996, he adds, making one yard of fabric used 30,000 BTUs of energy. This past year, the firm cut that by 15 percent. Guilford is also analyzing the 3,456 materials it uses - from nylon to dyes to wood chips - for sustainability. Paydos reports that a quarter of everything Guilford uses is a recycled product. "We are painstakingly going through each and every substance," he says. "We use a lot of nasty things - very legal, but with suspected health consequences. We are working one-by-one with suppliers to find substitutes." - Metropolis, Jul 98, p 68, by Robert Neuwirth.

THE GREEN PAGES
Not to be confused with other same-titled resources, the Green Pages is a 350-page interior specifier's guide to environmental products. This Green Pages not only cross-references interior design products to each other (linking energy-efficient lighting fixtures, for example, with energy- efficient lamps), it also points designers to special environmental consultants, contractors, advocacy groups, books, and related services. The guide compares sustainable interior products to conventional counterparts and quantifies their impact on the environment. Beyond identifying non-toxic products, it also lists non-offgassing chemicals used in them. Backing up the Green Pages are a product literature library, Material Safety Data Sheets, and research reports from the US Department of Energy and the EPA, among others. For more information, email Andrew Fuston and Kim Nadel, greenpgs@idt.net. - Interiors, May 98, p 90, by Katherine Day Sutton.

TWO EYE-CATCHING EXHIBITIONS
Shifting Gears: In Pursuit of a Greener City proposes urban design strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The exhibit runs May 26 to September 27 at the Design Exchange in Toronto. Call 416 216 2145 for more information. And in the UK, an exhibit on green building additions and conversions features Saturday afternoon "surgeries" that offer advice on making homes more environmentally friendly. It continues until June 26 at the Architecture Centre, Narrow Quay, Bristol. Call 0117 922 1540 for more information. - Architectural Record, May 98, p 69, and The Architects' Journal, 21 May 98, p 68.

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